Hey, Miami gusanos, you are right, I am a communist.

I should probably correct that. What I meant to say is, I was, rather than I am. Right now I am not a card carrying member of CPUSA, which is an acronym that stands for Communist Party USA.

But I still believe in the ideas of Karl Marx. The guy was a genius, specially when he said that “Religion is the opium of the masses.” And that comes from a guy that spent eleven consecutive years at Colegio De La Salle, in the Vedado district of Havana. I have to thank my deceased father for that. He made many sacrifices so I could go to a good school. If I had been sent to a Batista school, I would be totally ignorant today. The politicians in Cuba, before 1959, stole all the money that should have gone to the schools for the education of Cuban children. That has changed drastically today; Cuba now has good schools. The education money is not stolen by crooked US-supported native politicians.

In the 1990’s I was living in Puddle Town, which is the nickname for Portland, Oregon. Great city to live in. It is located in an extremely beautiful state. It rains a lot, but that is why the state and the city are so beautiful.

I have always spent a great deal of time in libraries, since I am a mouse that reads a lot of books. Multnomah county has the best library system west of the Mississippi river. They are open seven days a week, and when I was there, we the voters of the county, voted in favor of a $25 million dollars tax levy to renovate the Central Library in downtown Portland, and also the branches. Central Library is gorgeous.

Portland is a very political town. All kinds of good people, and also the weirdos, come to the library to distribute their pamphlets.

CPUSA, back then had an excellent working-class newspaper. It was called the “People’s Weekly World.” Like many other minor newspapers, you could always get a free copy every Monday at the library.

I liked what I read in the paper, and one thing led to another, and I joined CPUSA.

I did it because they defended Cuba, and after having lived for some time in west Dade county, Florida, in the seventies, I was thoroughly disgusted and repelled by the right-wing people that dominated the Cuban community. They reminded me of the Nazis. They were full of hate against just about everybody. Their anger stems from being booted out of Cuba on January 1, 1959, accompanying bad nigger Batista in his exit from the Caribbean.

The communists did not accomplish much in Portland back then. There were about 12 of us in the city. But they were good people. I got close to Hank Curl and we would go together to the docks to distribute to the working class the copies of the party newspaper.

There was one thing I had not expected. Just about every week I would receive mail from party headquarters in New York asking for “donations.” That got to be a pain in the ass. I never saw an audit in the party newspaper showing me where the money went.

There was another thing that bothered me a lot. In Portland, they had, at that time, a Saturday Market under the Burnside Bridge. Any non-profit could get a free table there on the weekend. I had founded the OCFA, which stood for the Oregon-Cuba Friendship Association. I did that on my own. The party did not ask me to do it. I paid for the state registration fees and for the newsletters that I wrote for the association. That was a “donation” that I am proud of.

So, one weekend, I had this petition that I had written up demanding that the Cuba blockade/embargo be lifted immediately. The results were beyond belief. I collected page after page of signatures, even from Canadians visiting Portland. They were given to a U.S. congressman from California, Esteban Torres, who was a friend of Cuba.

What I did not expect was that, other than Hank Curl, CPUSA did not do anything to help the petition drive. They sat on their asses. Hank Curl was the only one to show up and he helped with the gathering of the signatures. Him and I only. I was not a happy camper about CPUSA after that.

But the letters asking for “donations” kept on coming every week. I said to myself, to hell with CPUSA, and that is where the membership story ends.

Hank Curl I will never forget. He was a very good communist and he knew a lot about Marxist theory and practice. He must be deceased by now.

Nowadays, when I get letters from non-profits in my mail box, I always ask myself: “Where does the money goes?” Maybe to a few guys at the top? I don’t know.

CPUSA today does not amount to a hill of beans. Right now all they do is constantly kiss the ass of Barack Obama, specially during last year on election day in November. Could Big Ears be a crypt o-member? Did CPUSA get “donations” from the Democratic Party?

By the way, there are great similarities between the Catholic Church and the Communist Party. They both have sacred dogmas. If you criticize any of their dogmas, you know what you can expect? Harassment, excommunication or expulsion!

So, now I am my own boss. I do not belong to the corrupt Democrats or Republicans. Officially, I am an NPA, No Political Affiliation.

But I will continue @ Cuba Journal battling the genocidal Yankee imperialist blockade/embargo against my native Cuba. I guess that you could say that I am a guerrilla behind enemy lines.

Last but not least, keep Allan Gross in a Cuban jail until the Cuban 5 are released or exchanged.